María de San José Salazar (1548–1603) took the veil as a Discalced (“barefoot”) Carmelite nun in 1571, becoming one of Teresa of Avila's most important collaborators in religious reform and serving ...
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María de San José Salazar (1548–1603) took the veil as a Discalced (“barefoot”) Carmelite nun in 1571, becoming one of Teresa of Avila's most important collaborators in religious reform and serving as prioress of the Seville and Lisbon convents. Within the parameters of the strict Catholic Reformation in Spain, she fiercely defended women's rights to define their own spiritual experience and to teach, inspire, and lead other women in reforming their church. María wrote this book as a defense of the Discalced practice of setting aside two hours each day for conversation, music, and the staging of religious plays. Casting the book in the form of a dialogue, she demonstrates through fictional conversations among a group of nuns during their hours of recreation how women could serve as very effective spiritual teachers for each other. The book includes one of the first biographical portraits of Teresa and María's personal account of the troubled founding of the Discalced convent at Seville, as well as María's tribulations as an Inquisitional suspect. Rich in allusions to women's affective relationships in the early modern convent, it also serves as an example of how a woman might write when relatively free of clerical censorship and expectations.Less

Book for the Hour of Recreation

Maria de San Jose Salazar

Published in print: 2002-10-01

María de San José Salazar (1548–1603) took the veil as a Discalced (“barefoot”) Carmelite nun in 1571, becoming one of Teresa of Avila's most important collaborators in religious reform and serving as prioress of the Seville and Lisbon convents. Within the parameters of the strict Catholic Reformation in Spain, she fiercely defended women's rights to define their own spiritual experience and to teach, inspire, and lead other women in reforming their church. María wrote this book as a defense of the Discalced practice of setting aside two hours each day for conversation, music, and the staging of religious plays. Casting the book in the form of a dialogue, she demonstrates through fictional conversations among a group of nuns during their hours of recreation how women could serve as very effective spiritual teachers for each other. The book includes one of the first biographical portraits of Teresa and María's personal account of the troubled founding of the Discalced convent at Seville, as well as María's tribulations as an Inquisitional suspect. Rich in allusions to women's affective relationships in the early modern convent, it also serves as an example of how a woman might write when relatively free of clerical censorship and expectations.

Ana de San Bartolomé's life and writings reveal much about the situation of religious women in early modern Spain, yet her voice is also unique, the product of specific social circumstances, ...
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Ana de San Bartolomé's life and writings reveal much about the situation of religious women in early modern Spain, yet her voice is also unique, the product of specific social circumstances, individual psychology, and religious fervor. Ana's participation in Saint Teresa of Avila's religious reform of the late sixteenth century became the center of her life and provided an opportunity for self-expression in words and actions normally denied women of her background. Semiliterate when she entered the Discalced Carmelite Convent of Saint Joseph of Avila in 1570, Ana became one of the most prolific writers of the order, although many of her works remained unpublished until well after her death. These works include more than 600 letters, a spiritual autobiography, detailed accounts of the Teresian reform, lectures for younger nuns, and many devotional texts. As companion and nurse to Teresa of Avila, Ana participated in the advance of the Carmelite reform throughout Spain and later was influential in its establishment in France and the Low Countries.Less

Volume Editor's Introduction

Published in print: 2008-09-01

Ana de San Bartolomé's life and writings reveal much about the situation of religious women in early modern Spain, yet her voice is also unique, the product of specific social circumstances, individual psychology, and religious fervor. Ana's participation in Saint Teresa of Avila's religious reform of the late sixteenth century became the center of her life and provided an opportunity for self-expression in words and actions normally denied women of her background. Semiliterate when she entered the Discalced Carmelite Convent of Saint Joseph of Avila in 1570, Ana became one of the most prolific writers of the order, although many of her works remained unpublished until well after her death. These works include more than 600 letters, a spiritual autobiography, detailed accounts of the Teresian reform, lectures for younger nuns, and many devotional texts. As companion and nurse to Teresa of Avila, Ana participated in the advance of the Carmelite reform throughout Spain and later was influential in its establishment in France and the Low Countries.

This chapter presents English translations of Ana de San Bartolomé's autobiography, which offers a glimpse into the nature of monastic life during late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century Spain. ...
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This chapter presents English translations of Ana de San Bartolomé's autobiography, which offers a glimpse into the nature of monastic life during late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century Spain. In her autobiography, Ana describes memories of her childhood, her struggles for the religious vocation, her early relationship with the Carmelites, her becoming a Carmelite, the first steps in her Carmelite life, her love of God and love of others, her time as a companion and nurse to Saint Teresa of Avila, her time at the Discalced Carmelite Convent of Saint Joseph of Avila, her visions and revelations, and her travel to France and Flanders.Less

Autobiography of Ana de San Bartolomé

Published in print: 2008-09-01

This chapter presents English translations of Ana de San Bartolomé's autobiography, which offers a glimpse into the nature of monastic life during late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century Spain. In her autobiography, Ana describes memories of her childhood, her struggles for the religious vocation, her early relationship with the Carmelites, her becoming a Carmelite, the first steps in her Carmelite life, her love of God and love of others, her time as a companion and nurse to Saint Teresa of Avila, her time at the Discalced Carmelite Convent of Saint Joseph of Avila, her visions and revelations, and her travel to France and Flanders.